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How To Renovate A Bathroom on a Budget

Renovating on a budget is not as difficult as you may think. Renovating the bathroom should be one of the first jobs on your renovating for profit checklist. Bathrooms, like kitchens sell homes. They should always be renovated first. That said, it does not need be expensive. In fact I am going to share with you, 5 simple tricks of the trade, to help you renovate a bathroom on a budget. Let’s have a look at how you can renovate on a budget.

How To Renovate A Bathroom on a Budget

Replace or Paint the Tiles

If the tiles are old and outdated, replace them with fresh neutral coloured ones. You can cut down the costs by taking the old tiles up yourself. Tiling is a job often taking on by DIYers, and can achieve great results when care is taken with the prep work. Please ensure the waterproofing is done to Australian Standards, this is really important. If replacing the tiles is simply out of your budget, speak with a paint store professional about painting the tiles. Many fantastic renos have tiles that have been painted. Again keep the colours neutral, and then decorate the space with some brighter colours if you wish.

Replace or Paint the Vanity

Replacing the vanity can actually be quite inexpensive. There is nothing wrong with the vanities you can find at Bunnings, or plumbing outlets. In fact these are often the same ones that project builders use for their homes. A new standard vanity can cost as little as $200, though the value it can bring to the space is far greater. If it really is out of your budget to replace the vanity, again why not paint the doors of the vanity? This simple DIY project could be easily completed in a day, that time would be well spent when considering the potential financial outcome.

Shower Screen

I don’t think shower screen always need to be replaced. I do think they always need a super, good clean. Pay attention to the detail on the screen, especially around fittings and fixtures. Seek advice around a good cleaning product to rid the shower screen of unsightly soap scum build up. You want to be able to see through your shower screen not look at a cloudy glass wall.

Replace The Grout

Nothing will freshen a bathroom like replacing the grout. Simply scrap out the grout with a grout file, easily purchased from Bunnings or another hardware shop. Clean the area and allow to thoroughly dry. Mix up a new solution of grout, also available from any good hardware shop, apply and clean excess with a clean sponge. This investment of time and effort will really pay off! Silicone is also easy to replace, around the areas where the shower walls meet the floor and around the back of the vanity.

Update Tapware

While a non-essential step, if you have a little room in your budget, this is definitely worthwhile. This will help to really modernise the room. Once again, you can certainly use less expensive tap ware available from a hardware shop. These are often still good quality at a reasonable price. The cost of a plumber for a few hours is also a worthy investment.

As you can see, renovating a bathroom doesn’t need to be extravagant or expensive, especially when done for profit. A few simple steps will have your bathroom gleaming.

Have you ever renovated a bathroom? Where is the strangest place you have seen mold growing? What colour is your bathroom?

nicole

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13 Comments

Great advice, Nicole. Replacing the grout can make a huge difference. Before we sold my first house, we removed the peeling paint from above our shower and repainted that. Simple, but made a difference. The flat we lived in over in the UK had mould absolutely everywhere. I just could not get rid of it. It was disgusting.

Yes to replacing the grout and taps. It can make a huge difference. Although when you start on one area I think you can start to become a little unsatisfied with other parts of the bathroom. I also think a change in styling and some new plush towels can make all the difference. Great tips here lovely. x

We rent so have had our fair share of dodgy bathrooms. Our current ones are very functional but the shower screens are interesting. Downstairs has fish, net, weed and pebbles preserved in the screen- upstairs it’s butterflies and flowers. And I mean actual fish and butterflies. Not creepy at all…

My bathroom was clearly a DIY reno (from a shower over bath to one wet room) as the floor doesn’t drain that well. The wooden cupboard is starting to warp from water damage. But hey, renter. We report, their choice to fix!

Great tips Nicole. The majority of hubby’s work now is bathroom renos and people are always surprised that it is possible to do on a budget. I think they’ve been watching too many building shows on TV where they go all out on expenses, but it doesn’t need to be that way.

Hmm, our bathroom would cost a packet to renovate. Tiles all the way to the ceiling, one of those spa baths sunk into the raised floor (that we never use). And we have two bathrooms designed exactly the same. Urgh. A lovely shade of beige/pinky colour (sorry hard to explain) but they are in good condition.
The hardest bit is the mould building up between the shower/bath screen and the bathroom cabinet, not enough gap to get a cloth or anything between them. A great source of frustration as the kids somehow get water in there but not on themselves. Thanks for the tips above.

This is such good advice! Our bathroom is in quite good nick but is looking a bit dated. I see now that we can update it simply with some new taps and some TLC for the vanity. They’re relatively small changes but I think they’d make a big difference!

This is on our ‘TO DO LIST’ / wish list for our home – to give our bathroom a makeover. At the moment we have some ‘lovely’ green marble-look walls and that is going to be the first thing that goes! Everything else is fine…but the walls must go (or covered). In the meantime, I might just get some new towels (maybe grey).

We just tidied up our bathroom, replaced a couple of odd feature tiles, replaced a small spa bath with a lovely big one, replaced towel rails and painted the walls. I think we need to do the grouting though so will give that a try. These are really good tips Nicole, thank you

About Me

Hi, I'm Nicole, busy business manager to our construction company, life coach to our 5 kids, sharing the construction our lives, one project at a time, with the highlight of our 100+ year old Queenslander.